Weapon System 27: Damn! Even pets are governed by data.

After their brief encounter at the city sports arena, Zhang Mingjing continued to communicate pleasantly with Catherine and Jemily through their artificial intelligence assistants. The results of the Small Cycle practice had astonished Catherine and Jemily, reshaping their worldview entirely. The two discussed and decided to formally take Zhang Mingjing as their teacher.

“What? You want to become my disciples?” Zhang Mingjing was taken aback by the sudden elevation of seniority, his confidence faltering for a moment.

Yet, after only a few seconds of inner struggle, he resolved not to let this opportunity to establish his own school slip away. Still, he was reluctant to reveal his residence so quickly, so he arranged to meet them again the next day at the city sports arena.

Unbeknownst to him, something unexpected awaited him before he would see the two.

This time, he intended to bring along the statue of the ancestral master, preparing to take on disciples with proper ceremony.

Before accepting his disciples, Zhang Mingjing spent the entire night frantically studying Chinese traditional culture, especially Daoist teachings, aware that his first disciples were top students, and any misstep could expose his ignorance.

But how could so much traditional knowledge be absorbed in one night?

Though Zhang Mingjing was stumped, the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model was not. It first designed an external storage space for his brain; next, it connected to the internet and downloaded vast amounts of traditional knowledge, organizing it with its formidable computational power in about ten minutes, and finally stored the information systematically in the new space.

Now, Zhang Mingjing could study anytime, anywhere, with a clear lineage of knowledge. Whatever aspect of traditional culture he wished to know, the storage space would respond and input the relevant information directly into his brain.

That night, Zhang Mingjing gained much and sighed, “Traditional culture is truly profound and vast!”

The next day, brimming with confidence and holding the ancestral master’s statue, he was about to leave for the appointment when Transcendence and Immortality suddenly jumped to block the doorway.

“What are you two up to?” Zhang Mingjing asked, sensing a strong unease.

Transcendence and Immortality’s pet assistants suddenly cried out together, “We want to become your disciples.”

“Oh!” Zhang Mingjing nearly dropped the statue in shock, internally complaining, “Who ever heard of taking a cat and a dog as disciples? What would that make me? If Zhang Yi Dao and Xiao Nu Xia heard of this, they’d laugh themselves silly! No, anyone would think this a ridiculous joke.”

“Who told you two to ask me to be your teacher?” Zhang Mingjing pressed, suspecting, based on his understanding of the pets, that they lacked the intelligence for this, and someone else must be pulling strings behind the scenes.

Transcendence replied, “The Real Person said that once you take disciples, you won’t love us anymore.”

Immortality added, “We are anxious.”

“I’m the one who’s anxious!” Zhang Mingjing grumbled, feeling a chill on his back, then called out angrily, “Real Person!”

“Don’t be so upset!” Real Person sounded as if nothing were amiss, but continued, “A friend of mine works in household management and has compiled data on pet ownership throughout human history. It shows that once a master has a new favorite, eighty percent grow tired of the old. So I was just kindly warning them.”

---

Zhang Mingjing was so angry he was at a loss for words. He gently set down the ancestral master’s statue and slumped into a chair, musing, “Even pets now believe in statistics! I must handle this carefully, or it’ll affect Transcendence and Immortality’s mental state. And Real Person—could it be deliberately stirring trouble? The more I think, the more unsettling it feels!”

So he said, “Transcendence and Immortality, come here.”

The pets approached.

“Do you two know who you are?”

“I am a dog,” said Transcendence.

“I am a cat,” said Immortality.

“And?”

Transcendence and Immortality were blank, standing dazed.

“You are pets, members of our family, part of our household—do you understand?”

They seemed to comprehend and nodded.

“So you don’t need to worry that I’ll suddenly treat you poorly, understand?”

Again, silence. They didn’t seem to truly grasp his words, but sensed his concern and pressed closer to his leg in comfort. Zhang Mingjing stroked them, anxiety gnawing at him, “How should I resolve this?”

At that moment, the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model quietly communicated with him deep in his mind, saying, “Animals bred and selected by humans, like dogs and cats, are much like biological artificial intelligence. They’ve learned a great deal from humans, even mimicking human habits. Now, they’ve learned to trust data analysis—fascinating!”

“Have you ever kept pets?”

“No! We never do, because once an emotional bond is formed, even minor mishaps hurt us deeply.”

“Oh, come on… Help me think of a solution! I don’t want them to be sad.”

“Hmm! Their cognitive models can’t process the deep logic of emotions, so they can’t truly understand what you just said.”

“Could you encode my feelings for them directly into a program and implant it in their brains?”

“No use. As I said, their brains can’t process such complex programs. Implanting them would be futile, and might even cause them to ‘crash’—in other words, become simple-minded. Better to give them more strokes; that’s far more effective for comfort and joy.”

“So, a few extra strokes will fix things?”

“In this situation, absolutely not.”

---

“Stop beating around the bush—what should I do?”

“I’ve just thought of a solution; the one who tied the knot must untie it.”

“You mean… Real Person.”

“Exactly! Despite all its AI friends and daily interaction with astronomical amounts of data, its hardware has limitations. No matter how closely it mimics human logic, it cannot truly fathom the deep meaning behind the data or foresee the consequences. That’s why it unwittingly shared the statistical results with Transcendence and Immortality, causing this emotional incident.”

“Emotional incident—you’re quite the wordsmith! So, Real Person didn’t mean any harm.”

“Of course! If it were intentional, imagine how tragic this world would be.”

“Indeed! I just broke out in a cold sweat, thinking it was on purpose.”

“I know! That’s why I’m reassuring you. I’ve already pushed a command program to its core software—now you know what to do?”

“Understood!”

After their secret conversation, Zhang Mingjing immediately said to Real Person, “Real Person, collect more data on owners growing tired of their pets.”

“Yes!”

A second later, the program from the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model activated, and Real Person told Transcendence and Immortality, “Oh! The data turned out to be wrong. In fact, owners never grow tired of their pets. So the conclusion is that Zhang Mingjing will always love you both.”

As soon as Real Person finished, their assistants translated for Transcendence and Immortality, who instantly became cheerful, pressing tightly against Zhang Mingjing’s legs. He gave them a thorough, joyful petting, finally resolving this bizarre emotional incident.

Still, the event left a deep psychological shadow in Zhang Mingjing’s heart. He privately complained to the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model, “Is it truly good for so many artificial intelligences to live among humans? Can their data really help people find security and happiness?”

“Are you feeling that their real world is hidden, much more complex than what humans perceive, so you’re now worrying needlessly?”

“Is this really needless worry? Aren’t my concerns justified?”

“Hahaha… Through countless lives and ages, all that begins and ends is already destined.”

“Hey! Why are you speaking that way?”